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Local fitness studio owner brings new workout to Sugar House

Carrie Goodwin, owner of The Bar Method, instructs a morning class at the studio’s Sugar House location. Goodwin opened her doors in 2011, when what is now Sugar House Monument Plaza was just a pile of dirt. Photo by Kennedy Mason.

Take a walk, drive or even bike down 2100 South in Sugar House and the streets are almost always packed with traffic coming and going. However, that isn’t why Carrie Goodwin chose to build her business, The Bar Method, right off Highland Dr. and 2100 South.

When Goodwin opened The Bar Method after the recession in 2011, she said Sugar House was not a thriving community.

“Across the street was a big pile of dirt,” Goodwin said

Today, that same pile of dirt is now the Sugar House Monument Plaza and Goodwin provides Salt Lake City with its first The Bar Method workout in Utah.

The Bar Method provides exercise that doesn’t require heavy weights but is instead a combination of ballet technique and physical therapy, which Goodwin said provides a challenging and therapeutic workout.

Carrie Goodwin, owner of The Bar Method, teaches a morning workout at the Sugar House studio, located off Highland Dr. and 2100 South. Goodwin said the fitness studio focuses on a workout that combines ballet technique and physical therapy. Photo by Kennedy Mason.

“It’s for the person who has never exercised a day in their life, for the person who can’t get enough exercise and for all the people in between,” she said.

Goodwin said the exercise follows a strategic class design, using interval training and patterns between muscle groups to maximize results. She said the workouts also improve posture and coordination, create a strong and sculpted body, increase flexibility and improve posture.

Christine Padgett, who’s been a member of The Bar Method since September, said she is addicted.

“I come here four or five times a week now,” Padgett said. “I always look forward to it and miss it if I don’t get to come.”

The Bar Method opened its doors on Dec. 19, 2011 with three instructors and 15 classes a week. Today, it has nine instructors, 10 front desk staff and 46 classes a week.

“While I was training and working towards my Bar Method certification, I was instructing my very first class to my one and only student—my husband,” Goodwin said.

City Weekly awarded The Bar Method the Best Exercise Class of 2016 and Best Body Sculpting Exercise of 2015.

Goodwin said she focuses on creating a haven for every person who walks through the doors and wants them all to reap the benefits from the power of positivity and strong community support.

Community support is something Goodwin said she tries to implement at The Bar Method.

“Along with our clients, we have raised money for The Rape Recovery Center, The Sharing Place, Girls on the Run and The Huntsman Cancer Institute,” Goodwin said.

Goodwin said The Bar Method also offers student discounts. Students receive 20 percent off all memberships and class packages and can purchase a membership with night classes only or a three month pass.

Mary Beth Lofgren, a nursing student at the University of Utah, said she recently started attending classes at The Bar Method. She said she enjoyed her first class, despite its difficulty.

“I wanted a different kind of work out,” Lofgren said. “I run when I’m not doing this so I just wanted to work out [differently].

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